January 29, 2010

Cabbage-Beet Slaw with Ginger Vinaigrette

While our Indoor Pulled Pork was roasting away in the oven, making our house smell all kinds of wonderful, we contemplated what we wanted to serve on the side.

We're of the school that believes baked beans are a must when barbecue is involved, so that was a no-brainer.

But we also wanted something lighter, like a salad. Rummaging through the fridge, there was no lettuce to be found. In fact, it looked as if everything green had headed for the hills. (Maybe they're vacationing in Florida?)

There was some red cabbage, though, which made us think that a slaw might be order. But what to put in the slaw? The only other potential ingredient we had on hand was a bag of beets. Beets in slaw? We'd give it a go!

We've never made a true cole slaw (although we have made a couple salads in the slaw family). But we have eaten our fair share of the mayonnaise-laden-slaw-fixins-in-a-bags variety, the staple of church suppers, fish fries and many a Southern gathering.

Our grandmothers might not approve of adding beets to slaw (and would likely tell us this contraption still isn't really slaw), but we figured the beets might be a wonderful compliment to
the cabbage. (They'd also probably make the dish -- and our kitchen -- look like a crime scene. But that's okay.)

We began by roughly shredding the cabbage. Not wanting to cook the beets, which can be a pain, we peeled one, and then using a hand-grater to shred it into the bowl with the cabbage. It was all quite easy and only took a few minutes.

We wanted to dress the slaw with a bright flavor, so we made up a simple ginger vinaigrette and tossed it with the cabbage and beets, allowing the slaw to sit for a bit while the flavors combined.

Turns out, beets and cabbage make one knockout slaw! Interestingly, the beet flavor (and color) is very much present but it's hard to spot the beets themselves in the slaw. The vinaigrette really brought it all together, making for a very tasty salad.

If you're not serving this with barbecue, perhaps you can work it into your red-themed Valentine's Day menu. We're thinking you can serve it with steak tartare, a nice red wine, and a red velvet cake for dessert.

Just kidding.

Sort of.

Cabbage-Beet Slaw with Ginger Vinaigrette A recipe from TheBittenWord.com

Comments

While our Indoor Pulled Pork was roasting away in the oven, making our house smell all kinds of wonderful, we contemplated what we wanted to serve on the side.

We're of the school that believes baked beans are a must when barbecue is involved, so that was a no-brainer.

But we also wanted something lighter, like a salad. Rummaging through the fridge, there was no lettuce to be found. In fact, it looked as if everything green had headed for the hills. (Maybe they're vacationing in Florida?)

There was some red cabbage, though, which made us think that a slaw might be order. But what to put in the slaw? The only other potential ingredient we had on hand was a bag of beets. Beets in slaw? We'd give it a go!